


Not How I Imagined

by softkent (SalazarTipton)



Category: Check Please! (Webcomic)
Genre: Coming Out, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, M/M, OMGCP 14 Days of Love, day three, parse positive, unintentional confessions
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-03
Updated: 2017-02-03
Packaged: 2018-09-21 17:48:56
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 984
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9560207
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SalazarTipton/pseuds/softkent
Summary: Swoops follows Kent out after he flees the locker room and said more than he meant to.





	

Kent heard someone call after him from locker room, but he didn’t slow down for them. He needed to get out of there--get away from the cameras and microphones and people. After all these years Kent had managed to keep his media face up for each interview and fan. He wasn’t going to break that now. He’d worked too hard to just throw it all away--especially for this bullshit. 

He ran out of steam when he reached the back stairwell. The door clanged against the stopper with the force of Kent’s shove. He flopped down on the third to last stair a little rough. He felt the pang of the hard cement and hung his head, ready for the cold seep into him through his thin spandex. 

Maybe rushing out in the midst of his changing wasn’t the best idea. The stairwell seemed a lot colder than usual being just in his under armour. At least he remembered to slip on some shoes.

Until he could forget that damn deadbeat dad joke one of his boys made in the background during the tail end of Kent’s postgame interview, or at least put it out of his head for now, he wasn’t moving. It’d been years since he last saw his father. The game had been a hard fought win; Kent wasn’t in a shielded headspace. This shouldn’t still get to him. 

He waited for the slam of the door closing, but instead looked up when he heard a soft click. 

“Hey,” Swoops said in a cautious tone. Kent should have known he would follow him. Swoops was always the one running to check up on him. 

After a beat, Kent gave him an attempt at a smile. He scooched over towards the railing to make room for Swoops to sit down next to him. He hung his head and listened to the soft  _ pat pat  _ of Swoops’ socks on the cement. The heat coming off of Swoops warmed his side up the moment he sat down, but his ass remained frozen. Kent nudged him with his elbow. 

“Couldn’t even bother to put your ‘flops on?” Kent chirped him. 

Swoops knocked his shoulder against Kent’s. Although a lot of the guys on the Aces wore athletic sandals (come on, it’s Vegas. It’s always hot and they’re just going to be putting their skates on anyway. It just made sense), Swoops  _ always  _ wore his Adidas sandals he loving called his ‘flops. Stealing them had become a team pastime.

“I was, uh, in a bit of a rush,” Swoops admitted. He stared down at his stocking feet instead of looking over at Kent.

“I don’t need a babysitter, dude. I can handle myself,” Kent said as he cracked one of his knuckles.

“That’s not…” Swoops let out a huff. “You don’t have to deal with stuff alone. I know that you don’t talk about anybody about jack-shit, but that means that the guys don’t know what’s gunna bother you and what’s not, ya feel? Opening up a little may not be the end of the world, dude.”

Kent opened his mouth to joke, but thought better of it. They’d had this talk a few times and each time Kent shrugged it off with some self-deprecating humor and a few chirps that Swoops always met with drawn together brows and the shake of his head. 

“What would I even say? ‘Hey, guys. Just so you know, I’m pretty fucked up and can’t handle my shit so cut it out with the bad father shit ‘cause my dad left and thinks I’m wasting my life away playing hockey, joking about how filthy rich some of us are ‘cause I still wake up thinking the lights may not be on today since mom paid for my new pads last week, oh, and while we’re at it, quit it with all the homophobic shit ‘cause I can’t handle that while staring at the guy that I’ve been--” Kent cut himself off. 

He hadn’t realized he’d started rambling and he ended up outing himself. Great. This is why Kent didn’t open up and talk about things; once he opened his mouth, there was no stopping what was coming out. He rubbed at his eyes and hunched forward. 

“You shouldn’t have to handle all that shit in the first place,” Swoops said without a beat  between Kent cutting himself short. Kent felt Swoops shake his head. “You’re allowed to ask to be comfortable, Parse. You’re the fucking captain. You of all people should address the guys when they’re being dicks.” Swoops bent forward, breathing evenly and staring at his socks again. “And you aren’t the only one that would benefit from all the homophobic shit stopping.”

Kent’s head shot up and looked at the back of Swoops’ hung head with eyes the size of pucks. 

“Wait, do you mean--”

“This is  _ not  _ how I imagined doing this,” Swoops laughed to himself. He stucked in a quick breath and leaned back until in elbows and back rested on the cold steps behind them.

“How  _ you  _ imagined it?” Kent laughed, a little disbelieving this was happening. “I never thought I’d ever say that...I’m gay,” he whispered. 

Swoops leaned back up slowly, turned towards him, and put a tentative hand on Kent’s knee. He patted him a little awkwardly. “Well,” he cleared his throat. 

Kent waited while worrying at his bottom lip. The clammy heat from his hand on Kent’s bare knee was almost light enough to tickle him. He was rapidly reminded he was only wearing his spandex. Swoops looked down at his hand on his knee. 

“I’m...I’m queer,” Swoops said when his eyes flitted up to met Kent’s. 

They were pale green in the weird incandescent lighting from up the stairs behind them. Swoops watched his pupils dilate.

“So,” Kent cleared his throat. “You coming to my place tonight or…”

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading! Please let me know what you think in the comments and kudos are greatly appreciated! <3  
> Feel free to come find me on tumblr: [softkent](http://softkent.tumblr.com/)


End file.
